Reginald Clery was born 14 June, 1893. There was a
strong tradition in the family of service in the British Army. Reggie’s father
was a retired Lieutenant-Colonel in the Leinster Regiment. Reggie’s cousin,
Captain Noel Clery, Royal Field Artillery, fought in the First World War and
was killed in action 24 July, 1916.
In
May, 1900, whilst living at 17 Harcourt Terrace, Dublin, Reggie and his elder
brother, Claude, started at Belvedere College. Reggie performed very well
academically at Belvedere. In his Intermediate Exams in 1907, he achieved the
greatest number of honours in the school.
Reggie
was also involved in the activities of the school outside the classroom. He
proved himself a fine rugby player and appeared on the senior cup team in 1910.
For the school year 1909-1910, Reggie was a member of the Senior Sodality of
the Blessed Virgin Mary.
After
passing Senior Grade and Matriculation in 1910, Reggie left Belvedere and began
studying law at TCD. He was soon apprenticed to the law firm Messrs. O’Keefe
& Lynch of Molesworth Street and in 1913 he obtained first class honours in
his solicitors’ apprentice exams. The
Belvederian of 1913 congratulated Reggie on this achievement.
During
his time as a student, Reggie was an active member of the 1st
Battalion, Georgius Rex, Irish Association of Volunteer Training Corps
(hereafter IAVTC). There was an incorrect popular perception that the IAVTC was
populated by elderly middle-class Church of Ireland men and the battalion was
mockingly known as the ‘Gorgeous Wrecks’ in Dublin.
The
1st Battalion IAVTC had four companies, made up of members from the
Irish Rugby Union Football Corps, The St. Andrew’s Corps, the Dublin Veterans
Corps, the Glasnevin Corps, as well as City and Railway Corps and some motor
cyclists. Reggie Clery was part of A Company of the battalion.
It
is poignant to note that Reggie attended a rugby match at Lansdowne Road, with
friends from Belvedere days, on Holy Saturday, 1916, two days before the
commencement of the Easter rising.
On
Easter Monday, 1916, Reggie’s battalion marched to Ticknock, south Dublin, and
took part in a mock engagement with volunteers from Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire)
and Greystones, south of Dublin.
Having
received word that there was trouble on the streets of Dublin, Major George
Harris, the commanding officer, split the battalion in two to return to Beggars
Bush Barracks from two routes, one via Shelbourne Road and the other via
Northumberland Road. Major Harris and Sub-Commandant Francis Browning took
command of the two bodies of men.
As they approached the barracks at about 4pm, the
battalion found it besieged and under fire from Irish Volunteers positions in
the area, particularly the railway bridge over Haddington Road. The men of the
IAVTC carried rifles but no ammunition and had no bayonets. They were uniformed
but unarmed men and their ‘GR’ arm bands made them easy targets. In a witness
statement given to the BMH, James Rowan (fifteen years old in April, 1916)
recalled that ‘those
who were not in uniform wore an armlet with the letters ‘G.R.’ in red.’
The
Irish Volunteers opened fire upon the IAVTC men as they approached the
Haddington Road gates to the barracks. During the dangerous manoeuvres to
proceed towards and through the front gates, Reggie Clery was shot. The shot
that hit Reggie is likely to have come from the Irish Volunteers position at 25
Northumberland Road. As the other men
entered the barracks, they dragged the wounded Clery along with them.
James
Rowan’s witness statement, despite being given in 1953, began with a
declaration of clarity: ‘I remember vividly the incidents which I now relate.’
He was a telegraph messenger working in the postal service. After being let out
of the then occupied GPO, he walked home to Bath Avenue, very close to Beggars
Bush Barracks. He recalled watching the scene as the Irish Volunteers opened
fire on the IAVTC on Easter Monday, 24 April, 1916:
Then
a small party of approximately thirty ‘G.Rs.’ came along Shelbourne Road and
swung up Haddington Road towards the barracks. I looked at the railway bridge
over South Lotts Road to see what notice the Volunteers there were taking, if
any. I saw a Volunteer setting his rifle on the parapet of the bridge and then my
glance turned to the company on their way to the barracks. One of the company
must have had the same curiosity as myself, for I saw him down on bended knee
and in a position ready to fire, but the Volunteer on the bridge fired first
and I saw the ‘G.R.’ topple over. Some of his comrades doubled back and dragged
him into the barracks. His name was Sergeant Cleary [sic.]. The remainder of
the ‘G.Rs.’ were brought in the back way, up Shelbourne Lane.
Clery
died of his wounds either that day, Monday, 24 April, or the following day,
Tuesday, 25 April and was buried in Grangegorman Military Cemetery, Blackhorse
Avenue, Dublin. The Belvederian of
1916 reported Reggie’s death and wrote frankly and respectfully of their fallen,
recent past pupil:
Everyone has a kindly remembrance of him, and everything combined to
make his death a source of great sorrow to those who knew him. We offer our
sincere sympathy to his family in their great loss.
Reginald F. Clery and
Joseph Mary Plunkett (also profiled below) are the two Old Belvederians who
lost their lives as a result of the Easter rising, 1916. Their deaths represent
the different traditions that were evident throughout the Belvedere community
and wider Irish society.
The return to Beggars Bush Barracks saw the deaths of
several members of the IAVTC. Sub-Commandant Francis Browning received a single
gunshot wound to the head as he led his men that afternoon. He died of his
wound two days later and is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery, Dublin. Private Thomas
Harborne suffered similarly, receiving wounds in the ambush as he approached
the barracks. He died of his wounds that day or the following day. Private John
Gibbs was also fatally wounded in the engagement and was buried in Mount Jerome
Cemetery, Dublin.
The Irish Volunteers never sought to capture Beggars
Bush Barracks but they essentially placed it under siege. Continuous sniping
occurred throughout Easter week, making it dangerous to cross the barrack
square or to be in plain sight for any length of time. Private Joseph Hosford
was killed instantly when he was shot as he stood opposite a window in the
barrack room.
The Weekly Irish Times, Sinn Fein
Rebellion Handbook recorded the death of Clery as follows:
CLERY; Lance-Corporal Reginald F., I.A.V.T.C., was one
of the ‘G.R.'s,’ and was killed by the rebels at the entrance to Beggar's Bush
Barracks on Easter Monday.
